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KNOXVILLE - A Knox County jury this afternoon sentenced convicted torture-slaying ringleader Lemaricus Davidson to death by lethal injection for the January 2007 murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. The jury of five women and seven men deliberated about four hours before returning its decision to a packed courtroom. “The punishment is death,” the jury foreman said.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee man convicted of kidnapping, rape and murder charges in the fatal carjacking of a couple on a date has been sentenced to death. The defendant, 28-year-old Lemaricus Davidson, showed no reaction Friday as jurors announced the death sentences for the murders of 21-year-old college student Channon Christian and her 23-year-old boyfriend, Christopher Newsom. Davidson was found guilty of abducting the couple in Knoxville during a 2007 carjacking by several armed men.

How the jury voted in each of the charges in the torture-slaying trial of Lemaricus Davidson.Count 1: First degree felony murder of Hugh Christopher Newsom during the perpetration of robbery of Hugh Christopher NewsomA. Guilty of First Degree Felony Murder of Hugh Christopher Newsom, during the perpetration of Robbery of Hugh Christopher Newsom.[Guilty on all 46 counts including rape and torture of both victims, male and female]Count 29: Aggravated rape of Hugh Christopher Newsom by coercive anal penetration, while aided and abetted by one or more personsB. Guilty of Facilitation of Aggravated Rape of Hugh Christopher Newsom, by coercive anal...

Davidson found guilty Murder One all counts.

KNOXVILLE - While jurors watched for the second time torture-slaying alleged ringleader Lemaricus Davidson's account after his arrest in the January 2007 slayings of a Knox County couple, the parents of one victim lashed out at defense claims of drug use. Within a half hour of resuming deliberations this morning, jurors pondering Davidson's fate in the slayings of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom asked for a replay of a two-hour-long interrogation video of Davidson after his Jan. 11, 2007 arrest.

KNOXVILLE — The case against the alleged leader in the torture slaying of a young Knoxville couple went to the jury Tuesday with the defense trying to poke holes in a mountain of circumstantial evidence. Lemaricus Davidson, 28, faced 38 counts including kidnapping, theft, rape and murder in the January 2007 carjacking deaths of University of Tennessee student Channon Christian, 21, and her boyfriend Christopher Newsom, 23. The counts were consolidated from an original 46. The state intends to seek the death penalty if he is convicted. The case has touched a racial nerve because the defendants are black and...

Tennessee Jury Lets Torturer-Murderer-Rapist Live, to Prey on Others August 28, 12:24 Some juries are indulgent towards even the most vicious and plainly-guilty criminals. A Nashville jury just let a nightmarishly-evil torturer-murderer-rapist, Letalvis Cobbins, escape the death penalty in the rapes, torture, mutilation, and murders of Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian. Now, he can spend the rest of his life raping and preying on vulnerable prison inmates, like first-time offenders. The jurors who blocked the death penalty may have mistakenly believed that they were sophisticated and progressive by rejecting the death penalty, but in truth, they were being cruel, since,...

Tennessee Jury Lets Torturer-Murderer-Rapist Live, to Prey on Others August 28, 12:24 PMDC SCOTUS ExaminerHans BaderPrevious Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe Subscribe Get alerts when there is a new article from the DC SCOTUS Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use. Email Address Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use Some juries are indulgent towards even the most vicious and plainly-guilty criminals. A Nashville jury just let a nightmarishly-evil torturer-murderer-rapist, Letalvis Cobbins, escape the death penalty in the rapes, torture, mutilation, and murders of Christopher Newsom and Channon Christian. Now, he can spend the rest of his life raping...

The first of four defendants in the carjacking, rape and murder of a young Tennessee couple has been sentenced to life in prison without parole by the same jury that convicted him of murder. The sentence for 26-year-old Letalvis Cobbins of Lebanon, Ky., was announced in Knoxville after less than three hours of jury deliberation Wednesday. Cobbins took a deep breath and then sat down after the jury foreman finished delivering the sentence. The jury convicted Cobbins on Tuesday in the January 2007 attack on 21-year-old Channon Christian and her 23-year-old boyfriend Christopher Newsom, both of Knoxville Earlier Wednesday Christian's...

The first of four alleged members of a black gang scheduled to be tried for murder for the torture-slayings of a young white couple has been found guilty on multiple counts by jurors in Tennessee. WND reported just days ago when the trial was begun for Letalvis Cobbins on counts of first-degree murder and others for the 2007 deaths of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. Carjacking victims Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom The brutalized bodies of the victims showed evidence that the attackers had tried to destroy DNA evidence by dousing Christian with bleach and Newsom's body was burned beyond...

Torture-slaying trial, Day 8: Jurors resume deliberations By News Sentinel staff Posted August 25, 2009 at 9:11 a.m. KNOXVILLE — Jurors in the torture-slaying trial of Letalvis Cobbins resumed deliberations this morning. The panel from Davidson County deliberated about seven and a half hours Monday, ending the day without a verdict before returning to the hotel where they have been sequestered for more than a week. Testimony wrapped up Saturday with Cobbins, 26, taking the stand in his own defense. Cobbins is accused of taking part in the January 2007 kidnapping, rape and slaying of Channon Christian, 21,and Christopher Newsom,...

KNOXVILLE — Jurors this morning convicted Letalvis Cobbins of first-degree murder in the torture-slaying of Knox County couple Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. -snip- Description of crime (Wikipedia); According to the testimony of the Knox County Acting Medical Examiner Dr. Darinka Mileusnic-Polchan at the subsequent trial of Eric Boyd, Newsom was repeatedly raped and then blindfolded, gagged, arms and feet bound and his head covered. Barefoot, he was either led or dragged outside the house to a set of nearby railroad tracks. He was shot in the back of the head, the neck, and the back, and his body then...

This bastard murdered this young woman, and is accompliced to the murder of her boyfriend. It is now in the hands of the jury. 3 more are involved. It is a sad place to acknowledge. I stayed quiet until this trial was over. The anger is real.

Longtime readers will remember Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom, the young couple brutally murdered in a racially-charged case in Knoxville, TN in 2007. My archives on the case are here. The trial of the first defendant Letalvis Cobbins began yesterday. The Knoxville News Sentinel reports:

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Trial is under way in Knoxville for the first of four people charged in the kidnapping, rape and killing of a young couple more than two years ago. As court convened Monday, the judge read each of the 38 counts against 26-year-old Letalvis Cobbins. His attorney, Scott Green, responded by entering pleas. Green said his client pleaded guilty to five counts of facilitating robbery or theft in the carjacking that set the crimes into motion in 2007. He also pleaded guilty to one count of rape. To the remaining counts, Green responded "not guilty." Cobbins — of...

KNOXVILLE - Letalvis Cobbins is already confessing guilt to facilitating the murders of Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom. During the routine reading of the indictment this morning, defense attorney Scott Green declared Cobbins guilty of the lesser charge of facilitating the January 2007 slayings. The move comes as no surprise. That's part of the plan by Cobbins' defenders to try not to spare him a prison term. They're trying to save his life.

Does anyone remember the white couple that got abducted, raped, and killed by the three African American guys somewhere in the south? I think they found some of the couple's body parts in a garbage can at one of the alleged criminal's house. Does anyone have any follow up info or a link?

A judge in one of the nation's most brutal carjacking and murder cases has openly questioned in court whether news websites – such as those covering his trial – should be permitted to allow open and anonymous "comments" sections at the bottom of Internet-posted stories. "I'm saying if there is a profit, there is a responsibility that goes with it," said Criminal Court Judge Richard Baumgartner of Knox County, Tenn., to an attorney for the Knoxville News Sentinel. "This is not the Internet. This is a site created by you in which you invite comments," the judge stated. "This is...

A house where a Knox County couple was tortured and slain was razed today."It was an evil place," said Gary Christian, whose 21-year-old daughter was killed inside the 2316 Chipman St. house. "I'm glad it's gone."Waste Connections Inc., which is located next door to the house, bought it with the intent of tearing it down and putting in its place a memorial honoring Channon Christian and 23-year-old Christopher Newsom. "We have to work every day next to this awful scene," said Waste Connections division vice president Benson Henry.Henry said that the firm wants to keep the memorial simple."We want something...

How?It is that question, Hugh Newsom testified Wednesday, that he cries out every day since his son and his son’s girlfriend were slain in a carjacking turned torture slaying.[snip]U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan did not have an answer, but for the families of the slain couple he did serve up the dish they sought — the toughest penalty allowed by federal law for Eric Dewayne “E” Boyd, whom a jury concluded earlier this year helped hide out slaying suspect Lemaricus Davidson.“The underlying crimes were unquestionably horrific in nature … and will long be felt by the families of Channon Christian...